OnCourse Learning, a portfolio company of The Riverside Company, has acquired Digital University, an online bank and credit union regulatory compliance training company. “Digital University is a perfect fit for OnCourse,” said Riverside Managing Partner Loren Schlachet. “It offers an outstanding set of courses and has a deep and valuable customer base. Digital University is a highly complementary addition to OnCourse.”
Digital University provides courses on regulatory compliance, customer service, back office, and management skills for its more than 1,000 bank, credit union and utility clients. The company is based in San Diego (www.digitu.com).
Working on the transaction with Mr. Schlachet from Riverside were Principal Brian Sauer, Associate Grady McConnell, Operating Partner David Logan and Finance Director David Pecore.
OnCourse is a holding company established to build a multi-industry professional training provider. It currently consists of three companies: (i) American Home Inspector Training Institute provides pre-licensing training; (ii) Specialized Solutions is a provider of self-paced e-learning courses for IT professionals preparing for certification exams; and (iii) TrainingPro provides mortgage education for brokers and loan officers. The company has offices in Waukesha, WI and Clearwater FL (www.oncourselearning.com).
The acquisition of Digital University is the sixth add-on to OnCourse. The other additions to OnCourse were QuickCert.com (2007), American Home Inspectors Training Institute (2007), TrainingPro (2008), ProSchools (2010), and CompuTaught (2012).
“Financial institutions face a complex and increasingly demanding regulatory environment,” said OnCourse CEO Patrick Sheahan. “We see a strong growth future for this area of training, and we’re thrilled to be acquiring such a strong player in the field.”
US Bank provided financing for the transaction. Jones Day provided legal counsel on the transaction, and McGladrey provided accounting due diligence.
The Riverside Company is a private equity firm focused on the smaller end of the middle market (“SEMM”). Riverside specializes in investing in SEMM companies (those valued up to $200 million) and partners with management teams to build companies through acquisitions and value-added growth. Since 1988, the firm has invested in 300 transactions with a total enterprise value of more than $6 billion. The firm is headquartered in New York with additional offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London (www.riversidecompany.com).
© 2012 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 11-12-12
